


Saved from the Ashes

by Merfilly



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Mentor/Protégé, Older Man/Younger Man, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-01
Updated: 2014-03-01
Packaged: 2017-12-08 05:15:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/757466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Wintergreen chose to interfere in the Joker's plans, it led to a wildly... interesting ride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Training Opportunity

**Author's Note:**

  * For [somethingclever](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingclever/gifts).



> Jason is roughly 16 and rising through these scenes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pat needs Jason's help, but Wintergreen is unsure he's ready.

"If you ever hope to be successful at seduction, you need to learn that kissing is far more than mashing your lips on theirs and shoving your tongue into their mouth," Wintergreen admonished his young student.

"Never got no complaints," Jason muttered, sulking at being called on his manly ability to kiss.

"Proper language, Jason," Wintergreen rebuked. He then shook his head, and looked at Patricia. "What am I to do with him? You need his help for this, but he needs... more finesse."

"Still in the room, ol' man," Jason said, earning him a solid slap across the back of his head from Pat, otherwise known as Vigilante.

"Show him respect, kid... knows more than me, you, and Slade rolled into one." She then looked at Wintergreen, eyes twinkling merrily. "I suppose you could try showing him." They were fairly good friends, and she didn't mind helping teach the boy when she really needed his help for this job in Monaco.

"Truth. Are you volunteering, my dear?"

Jason sat up a little straighter, his guts twisting on him as Pat nodded and Wintergreen walked over, taking her hand to help her stand from the couch. He really didn't need to see this, not when he really wanted...

And then Wintergreen was dipping his head in, catching Pat's lips, One hand still holding hers as his other came to rest on Pat's hip. Jason watched, angry... because it was Pat? Still, he had a brain, and if it was anything to go by the way Pat's posture had weakened, and the moan... Jason might just be able to turn the lesson his way and never let on what he really wanted.

"Whew... Slade must having been copying you all these years, Wintergreen," Pat said as they broke apart.

"Yeah yeah, all good to watch, but I can't see what's actually going on!" Jason complained. "Just a kiss!"

Wintergreen eyed him shrewdly, then shook his head. "The things I do to turn out decent operatives," he complained before he reached out and drew the boy up to teach him more thoroughly what a real kiss was.

Jason managed, barely, to hide his smirk.


	2. Strike the Match

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade... is protective. Jason learns the hard way, as usual

Jason's temper had always been one of his biggest problems in life. Even as he slammed the door on the New York penthouse, he was beginning to feel the pressure of both tears and further anger gnawing on his soul.

How dare that old man push him so hard! How dare he say Jason wasn't pushing hard enough! The bastard had no idea what hard work was like, or how hard Jason had tried!

Four hours later, picking himself up off a rooftop, bleeding and bruised from fight he hadn't seen coming, he tried to remember that righteous anger at Wintergreen, but Slade's face was one step away from murder.

"You listen to me, boy," Slade snapped. "You can't take the heat, you get the hell away from him! I know what he sees when he looks at you, even if I think he's barking up the wrong tree. You're too Bat to ever be able to learn all he could teach you! I've stood back, because he took you in. But I will not stand back and let you push him into any more god-damned pain than he's already living with, boy!"

"Son of a bitch," Jason spat, trying to keep fighting, but a kick ended any idea of that, and his knee was going to be days healing. Then Slade was down, gripping his face by the chin and scowling into his face.

"Go ahead and admit you aren't worth his effort. Do us all a favor and get the hell out of our lives, because you can't be what he thinks he sees in you!"

"Never asked him to teach me! Never wanted this!" Jason snapped, but it was a lie, and he knew it. Point blank, he was afraid Slade was right. Slade saw it, so Jason blustered up further. "I was fine the way I was!"

"The way you were damn near got you killed, boy! And you're half a step from getting there again, if you ever take out your bullshit excuses on a man who knows more than even I do on how to handle combat and tactical situations!" Slade shoved as he released Jason, pushing him off-balance. "You don't want to change? Get the hell away from him before he has to bury one more loss!"

Then Slade was gone, leaving Jason in pain, bleeding, and wondering what the hell to do.


	3. The Little Sparks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two moments of the evolution of the mentor and his student

"You promised me bed in breakfast today!" Jason complained playfully from the hall before he turned into the kitchen, wearing just his Jockey's. He stopped short as he realized that Wintergreen was most assuredly not alone, and the person there was one of the last he expected to see. "Dammit, Dick, d'ya have to ruin my breakfast plans? I'm hungrier than a hippo!"

The words, delivered in completely whining tones did a little to break the tension in the kitchen, allowing Wintergreen to get his temper under control. Yes, he was an old man, and the damnable Titan had not needed to remind him of it. But Jason, such a stellar student to begin with, had not seen the age; he'd seen the companionship. Yes, Jason had issues that had left him vulnerable to anyone who did show an interest. However, Wintergreen had steadfastly resisted walking the path he had with his other students until the day Jason had pushed the issue most directly.

It had always been Jason's choice. And nothing Dick Grayson implied about him being manipulative or predatory was near to the truth in any point of view!

"Jason, do put on some trousers at least. Need not have you shaming your brother by winning the physique category, now do we?" Wintergreen said, putting the discussion of his relationship firmly on the back burner.

`~`~`~`~`

The boy… no, young man… was almost salivating as Wintergreen methodically opened and expanded the case of specialist tools. Everything from ceramic flechette pistols to a semi-automatic machine gun was in the case, all broken down inconspicuously. Next to that case was the latest in body armor… light, flexible, and solid on stopping power.

"Are you ready to begin working with me, Jason?" the no-longer old man asked his student. They'd put much work into making him ready for this very moment.

"You bet I am, Wintergreen… just give me a target!"

Wintergreen laughed, and indicated the gear was now his.


	4. Smothered Flames

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wintergreen has a brush with mortality... and that changes the plan.

Jason was away the day of the attack, something he'd never forgive himself for. His mentor was strong for his age, but not strong enough to fend off a full attack force. It was Slade who called him to come to the hospital in Nairobi, telling him what room and that he would tie up the loose ends. For once, Jason didn't argue; Wintergreen needed one of them there with him.

Loose ends, however, did not take long enough for Wintergreen to recover, and both men were there the night the man's heart tried to give out on him. They were rushed away, to a waiting room, so doctors could have unfettered access to the old man in the bed, looking too frail and small for anyone's state of mind.

Jason paced, Slade prowled, and the nurses looked harried at having two dangerous men on such short fuses. It was the look on one of them that Jason finally noticed, and he realized Wintergreen would be pissed over his making them nervous. He dropped down on a couch, and on Slade's next pass, he reached out, snagging a wrist.

"He'd kill us," Jason pointed out, a tip of his head toward the young nurse staffing the desk. Slade looked, then dropped too, knowing Jason was right, this time. After a moment, Slade put an arm along the back of the couch, an invitation that could be taken or ignored in his posture.

Jason took it. They might have their differences, but they both loved the man in danger. He didn't even protest when Slade closed his hand on the far shoulder, keeping him close as they waited the vigil.

`~`~`~`~`

Wintergreen knew his heart was winding down. Ten long years of teaching a new boy, of loving him fiercely, of separating him and his first student were coming to a close. The last scare had been… a close one.

He placed the notes for each one on their respective chairs, then took the elephant gun down and left the house.

He refused to find out if the magic worked by submitting meekly to death.

Instead, he'd find the nomad that had troubled the villagers, end it, and let his heart take him down into death among the grass of the savanna. It was far more fitting that way.


	5. Phoenix Rising

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason followed the letter exactly. Sometimes, it pays off to do as you're told.

Jason waited nervously; he had followed the instructions to the letter. The storm that had blown up had been fierce and awful. Slade was away, but somehow Jason knew that was not going to last.

"Come on…"

Finally, he saw movement at the shallow grave, and set a land-speed record for getting there. Only as the man in the grave sat up did Jason stop, gasping at the change in his teacher.

"Wintergreen… you're… younger!"

The Brit pulled himself out of the grave, looking at it with a sigh.

"Certainly took me long enough to test the theory, my boy."

`~`~`~`~`

"Do ease off, m'boy," Wintergreen chided. "I'd rather not expire from broken ribs!"

His words immediately had Jason trying to disengage fully, but Wintergreen kept hold of him and settled the embrace more carefully. The look of awe as Jason touched Wintergreen's face, sliding down his neck and chest that was still bare, for all the natives had loaned him trousers, was almost embarrassing. 

"So much younger…"

"Not too young, I hope," Wintergreen said.

Jason shook his head quickly, then looked up into bright blue eyes. "Didn't you know what would happen?"

"M'boy, never done this before; how could I?"

`~`~`~`~`

Jason was alive. He had a home. He had love.

That love had been given a new lease on life.

The thought was enough to make Jason open his eyes and look into the vibrant blue ones, smile coming to his lips at how out of place that thick mustache seemed now, set on a face that was no more than thirty. Why it had seemed so right on older features was not something Jason cared to think on, not when Wintergreen seemed intent on proving he had more than enough life and vigor to be everything Jason ever needed.

`~`~`~`~`

His younger daughter had been amused, the first time she showed up needing first aid, and Wintergreen's new student had been sullen for being interrupted. Wintergreen did nothing to correct her assumptions in the matter.

Slade growled a lot when he came around, but then… if Slade hadn't been gone, things might have gone differently. So Wintergreen ignored him on that protest.

Rose had side-eyed it, but not asked, and Wintergreen didn't volunteer.

In short, now that he had his youth and health back, it just wasn't anyone's business or care to interfere in the comforts he had found.


	6. Stray Embers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slade... will learn to cope. He has to.

Slade lay with his head pillowed on Wintergreen's thigh, letting the elder (but god, so young now!) man pet his hair.

"I never should have left," he admitted.

"Poppycock, Slade. I was old and incapable of meeting your expectations." Wintergreen's hand remained gentle, though, despite the tone. "I still can't match you. Not really."

Slade shifted to look up the length of Wintergreen's body, eye stormy with worry. "It's because of the boy..."

"Young man, thank you very much. And no. Or not in full. Jason was there with me through the bitter end and rebirth, yes. I owe him for that. But...he's akin to you in so many ways, yet truly a separate soul as well. He needs me...and for the first time since you allowed me into your life, I actually have someone I love. Rather deeply, despite his brashness."

Slade was shaken, but he would not show the hurt, the rejection, not to Wintergreen or any other... and yet that hand tightened in his hair. 

"Slade, I love you. Nothing changes that. But Jason is mine, where you could never be again. Not as it once was. So accept this gracefully...and somehow, it will work out."

Slade merely grunted, but...Wintergreen was as immortal as himself. Surely one life... and the kid was likely to get killed young... couldn't hurt.


	7. Burning Hot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fever makes Wintergreen truly admit to himself how bad this is

Wintergreen bathed the face of his young man, praying the fever worked its way out soon. He still did not know just what had kept the boy from returning for aid after being injured so badly. It had taken all Wintergreen's skill to get him contained without strapping him down so the local street doctor could cut the shrapnel out.

Now, alone in the room with the younger man, Wintergreen worried. He hated this feeling, hated being tied up in another's welfare. Hadn't he done this for too many years already? And that one, at least, was far less vulnerable.

A sigh escaped the no longer old Briton. He was old in years, yes, but the body he held was as fit as the day he'd saved Slade's life that first time. And this man sweating away his lifeblood while shivering paradoxically from the fever was as deeply rooted as that other American ever had been.

"Never thought I'd be such a blithering idiot once, let alone again," he sighed at himself, knowing he was as firmly lost in the care of Jason as he had ever been in Slade's. "You had better pull though this quickly, young man, and then I will tan your hide for recklessness." He set the cloth to one side, and rested his head on his arm, there at the edge of Jason's sick bed, to wait this out.


	8. Heated Moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jason makes a mistake, and worries at what he will lose.

Jason would be lying if he said the cuff along the back of his head hadn't hurt. Wintergreen's hand could be damn heavy when it was deserved, and Jason would admit this one was.

Still, he stubbornly glared at his teacher.

"I had the shot! I knew I could make it!"

"You changed the game plan, on the ground, without paying attention to the fact I had the experience in the matter!" Wintergreen said, his voice a bull-roar of an old soldier, no matter the fighting fit body he now possessed.

"I had the shot! I knew I was fast enough to make it!"

Wintergreen's eyes bored into the younger man with an unnerving intensity. "Ask Slade about knowing you are fast enough." His voice was a low tone this time. "Or better yet, ask Jericho." With that, he turned and walked away, done with the reprimand, and leaving Jason certain he had made a worse mistake than screwing up a mission.

`~`~`~`~`

Jason had screwed up. Wintergreen had rubbed his nose in it by taking a contract with his daughter to deal with a minor problem up in Tunisia threatening the power status there. 

It was just the kind of thing they normally let him run, foreign investors trying to pull strings and all that.

Not this time, all because Jason had made the wrong call on the last run.

He was probably lucky Slade hadn't turned up before the older man left out to join Joyce. It just left Jason alone, looking at the photo albums, reading through the books Wintergreen wanted him to know, and … terrified he'd made the mistake that was going to cost him everything.

He just had to hope he'd learned how to bend enough to make the needed apology.

`~`~`~`~`

There was no doubt in Jason's mind that Wintergreen had not forgiven him as the man returned, minus his daughter. No doubt they'd had words; the pair couldn't be together for too long without rubbing each other wrong.

Still, Jason had never been a coward, and he wasn't about to be one now. Very quietly, he approached his teacher's chair in the den, dressed like everything was perfectly normal. However, he dropped to his knees, forehead pressed to Wintergreen's thigh just as he was about to pass the chair, all but holding his breath to see if his attempt at accepting Wintergreen's control was enough.

"You already have regrets on your plate of life, Jason."The voice didn't sound as angry, and the hand coming down to pet his hair was infinitely gentle, but still Jason waited, afraid that Wintergreen was only softening the blow. "I don't want to walk through another lifetime paying the price of mistakes made by the one I choose." The other hand came over, Wintergreen's body shifting ever so slightly, and caught Jason's chin to tip it up. 

//He said choose…// the Bat-trained part of his brain said, but Jason refused to hope until he looked into his teacher's eyes.

"I do not mind modifying the plan, my dear boy, but never at the risk of your partner, the client, or bystanders with no part in the machinations." Wintergreen sighed. "How do you always steal my temper, boy?"

"Got enough for both of us?" Jason offered, before finally letting himself relax. For now, he was safe. He still had a home. He still had someone who loved him.


End file.
